November election begins early for voters at City Hall

It may be October, but San Francisco’s November election already has begun.

More than 100 people showed up at the polling place in the bowels of City Hall Tuesday to cast their ballots on the first day of advance voting for the Nov. 6 election. Since then, a steady stream of early-birds have made their way to the voting booths set up outside the city elections office.

Vote-by-mail ballots went out to about 218,000 city residents Monday, a steadily rising percentage of San Francisco’s 464,000 registered voters. The city’s voter pamphlet went out last week and already should have arrived at most homes.

“It happens fast,” said John Arntz, the city’s elections chief. “We’ve been working on the November election every day since June and suddenly people already are voting.”

If the past is any indication, there will be plenty of people showing up at City Hall to vote. More than 19,000 votes were cast there in 2008 and the numbers are likely to grow this year, as fewer and fewer people turn out on election day to cast their ballots in a voting booth.

That doesn’t mean the polls will be deserted on Nov. 6, Arntz said.

While vote-by-mail ballots arrive at the elections office every day, “our biggest delivery still comes at the polls on election day,” he said. “Our polls are becoming vote-by-mail collection centers, where people take a hybrid approach to elections.

“They take time to study and mark their ballots at home, but then take the ballot to the polling place to participate in the civic aspect of the election.”

The City Hall polling place is open to registered voters from anywhere in the city during normal weekday business hours. It will also be open the two weekends before the election, Oct. 27 and 28 and Nov. 3 and 4.

San Francisco has set up a special telephone election hotline at 415-554-4375 to answer any questions about misplaced ballots, polling places, voting regulations, registration deadlines or anything else dealing with the upcoming election.